Recent cellular standards, e.g. 3GPP standardized Long Term Evolution (LTE) radio access, provide for releasing a bearer (or a data connection) between a terminal and the network after a predefined time of data inactivity. According to LTE, a terminal is set from connected mode to idle mode after detecting that a monitored inactivity time (wherein no data has been exchanged) exceeds a predefined inactivity timeout value set in an eNode B of the LTE network. In such a case, the eNode B initiates the bearer release such that the connectivity state or operational state with respect to the terminal is changed from connected to idle. Thereto, the eNode B commands a control node of the communication network, for example a Mobility Management Entity (MME) to release access bearer(s) of the terminal and a terminal context of the terminal. For example, if the inactivity timeout value is set to 60 seconds, all terminals showing data traffic inactivity exceeding 60 seconds are put to idle state.
However, such preconfigured timeout value might not be suitable for all terminals of the network. Assuming a machine device terminal with short data traffic periods, the typical value of 60 seconds for the inactivity timeout value may be too high, since the terminal is kept in its connected state although it will be inactive most of the time staying in connected mode. This might lead to an unnecessary consumption of power, since power consumption in the connected state of the terminal is typically significantly higher than a power consumption in the idle state of the terminal. On the other hand, users might seek a longer timeout value, e.g. if a response time shall be minimum and/or if a data throughput shall be maximum in any conditions.